Category: Photography tours

All our photography courses for 2017 have now finished, so time to move on to 2018. The programme has just been finalised and is now on the website.

In summary, we have 10 one-day workshops next year, five in the spring and five in autumn. There are our usual favourites, namely Dartmoor and Exmoor in both spring and autumn (amounting to four workshops), plus architecture and travel photography in Exeter (Devon), and two coastal landscapes photography courses on Devon’s north coast.

Bluebells in flower at the base of a young beech tree in woodland, Happy Valley, nr Bishopsteignton, Teignmouth, Devon, Great Britain.

Introduced for the first time is a travel and architectural photography workshop among the beautiful old buildings in the city of Bath. A perfect place for this kind of photography.

So, all in all a great set of photography courses. And for anyone looking for a gift for a photography lover, as always there are our ever-popular photography course gift vouchers.

A dusk view of the harbour at Ilfracombe, Devon, Great Britain.

Finally, as an adjunct to this, a reminder that for 2018 we have three photography tours, going to the Isles of Scilly (in April), Ladakh (the Tibetan part of northern India, in June) and Iceland (in September).

This year’s photography tour has been held!

21-26 Sept 2017

As always, Iceland did not disappoint during this year’s tour, delivering up plenty of spectacular landscapes, coasts and waterfalls, along with some very challenging weather conditions. With weather forecasts changing every five minutes, we found ourselves regularly dodging showers, sheltering our cameras from rain and spray, reluctant to use tripods in the ‘bracing’ winds.

Rainbow in countryside near Rif, Snaefellsnes peninsula, western Iceland.

The upside of the conditions was that we saw more rainbows than you could shake a camera at, generating some wonderfully colourful and dramatic scenes. It all added to the mood of the wild and rugged landscapes for which Iceland is so rightly renowned – absolutely a landscape photographer’s dream, at least for those who like nature in the raw, and indeed still in the making.

This year’s tour concentrated on the Snaefellsnes peninsula, a 100km-long finger of land pointing into the North Atlantic from Iceland’s west coast. A mountainous and volcanic peninsula, much of the photography took in a few of the many waterfalls, rugged mountain scenes, lava fields and surf-pounded coastal lava cliffs.

The aurora forecasts for the week were rather low, and as predicted we got to see Northern Lights on just one night; a modest performance in the sky above the church in the village of Hellnar.

Northern Lights over the church at Hellnar, Snaefellsnes, western Iceland.

The return trip towards Reykjavik took a huge detour inland, passing the lovely Hraunfossar Falls (arguably one of Iceland’s most beautiful waterfalls), and then passing along the wild and desolate Kaldidalur valley, skirting the western edge of the Langjökull Glacier, Iceland’s second largest ice-cap.

Hraunfossar Falls, near Reykholt, west Iceland.

Talking of Reykjavik, we also took in some architectural photography in this attractive city, shooting the magnificent Hallgrimskirkja church and the shoreside Suncraft sculpture.

My programme of spring and early summer photography courses has now finished, but my autumn events will be starting up in September.

Apart from the Iceland photo tour in late September, I also have four one-day courses, all taking place in southwest England, mostly Devon, and mostly concentrating on landscape photography.

One of the four courses – Jurassic Coast Landscapes, at Lyme Regis on 7th October – is already full, but I still have spaces on the other three, so here are some details:

Atlantic Coast Landscapes

9th Sept 2017; Hartland Quay, north Devon

We’ll be photographing along the rugged cliffs and beaches at and near Hartland Quay, on Devon’s rugged north coast, near Bideford. Subject matter will include the sand and rocks of the shoreline, plus at least one of the several waterfalls that cascade down the cliffs right onto the beaches.

Exmoor in Autumn

21st Oct 2017; Lynton and Lynmouth, north Devon

This course takes in the rugged coastal landscapes of the Valley of Rocks as well as the deep valley woodlands and streams of Watersmeet, two beautiful locations around the Exmoor towns of Lynton and Lynmouth.

The River Lyn at Watersmeet, near Lynmouth, Exmoor National Park, Devon, Great Britain.

Dartmoor in Autumn

28th Oct 2017; Fingle Bridge and Gidleigh Common, Dartmoor, Devon

In this course we’ll be photographing the autumn colours in the woods that line the River Teign close to Fingle Bridge, in the northeast of the moor, followed by some open moorland photography around Scorhill stone circle and the marshes of the upper Teign.

Iceland photography tour

Photography of the rugged volcanic landscapes of this wild peninsula, including the iconic Mt Kirkjufell and its nearby waterfalls, as well as – hopefully – the Northern Lights. We still have a couple of spaces, so if you’re interested in coming click on the link below.

I’ve just finished putting together the details for a photography tour to the Isles of Scilly, a stunning little archipelago sitting in the Atlantic about 30 miles southwest of Land’s End, mainland Britain’s most southwesterly tip.

Spread over five days/four nights the tour will run 14th-18th April 2018, and will be based at the attractive Wingletang guest house on St Mary’s, the Scillies’ main island.

A low tide view across Pentle Bay, on Tresco, across to the Eastern Isles, Isles of Scilly, Great Britain.

What to expect

The abundant marine wildlife, consisting of hundreds of mainly grey seals and thousands of sea birds, particularly shags, razorbills and guillemots, as well as the occasional dolphin, spread mainly across the hundreds of uninhabited islands and especially the wild Western Rocks, the last sentinels of the Scillies, exposed to the full force of the Atlantic;

The world-famous Abbey Gardens, on the island of Tresco, home to hundreds of species of plant from 80 countries around the world, including Brazil, South Africa, the Canaries and New Zealand. This is a rare opportunity to see sub-tropical plants growing outdoors in the UK, thanks to the Scillies’ mild climate.

A male Atlantic Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus, on rocks on the Norrard Rocks, Isles of Scilly, Great Britain.

How to find out more and how to book

All the tour’s details, including price, accommodation links, how we’ll get around the islands and how to get to the Scillies, are on the website. To get to the right page, just click on the link below: